P&O sells four drinks packages, and the difference between the two that matter is smaller than the price gap suggests. Most passengers are choosing between Classic from £50 per person per day and Deluxe from £60, and for a good many people neither is the right answer.
This guide sets out what each one covers, the pour sizes that actually separate Classic from Deluxe, and the rules that decide it for you before any arithmetic does. Prices are P&O’s own published “from” rates for cruises of five nights or more and they move, so check your own booking before committing.
The Four Packages
There are four, and only two of them involve alcohol. P&O publishes them as “from” prices for cruises of five nights or more, and that five-night floor is the first thing to check: packages are not sold at all on shorter cruises.
- Classic, from £50 per person per day. The mainstream choice. Selected cocktails, 25ml spirits, beers and ciders, 175ml glasses of wine and 125ml Prosecco, on top of everything in the two non-alcoholic packages. It also carries 20% off anything outside the package, and a free Refresh package for children aged 17 and under.
- Deluxe, from £60 per person per day. Everything in Classic, poured larger: 50ml spirits instead of 25ml, 250ml wines instead of 175ml, an extended cocktail range, plus craft beers and perfect serves. The 20% discount and the children’s Refresh package carry over.
- Alcohol-free, from £29 per person per day. Soft drinks on tap plus selected small Costa Coffee and Pukka tea. The step up from Refresh is essentially the coffee, so the question is whether your speciality coffees come to more than the difference.
- Refresh, from £16 per person per day. Regular and large soft drinks on tap, and nothing else. Note what it does not include: Costa Coffee and Pukka tea are not part of Refresh. Children can take Refresh independently of their parents, and it can be bought on board.
Buying through My P&O Cruises after booking and up to three days before departure takes 10% off. You can still buy on board, but only during the first two days of the cruise and with no discount at all. There is no advantage whatsoever in waiting to decide.
What Is Free Anyway
Before working out whether a package pays, it is worth knowing what you get without one. Water, teas and coffees are available on board free of charge. What you pay for is the branded and packaged version: canned, still or sparkling water, and speciality coffees and teas such as Costa or Teapigs.
That reframes the cheaper packages considerably. Refresh at £16 a day buys soft drinks on tap, and Alcohol-free at £29 adds the Costa and Pukka tea. If your habit is a pot of tea with breakfast and a coffee after lunch, you already have both for nothing, and the package is buying you the branded cup rather than the caffeine.
There is a second thing P&O does not charge you for, and it matters more when you are comparing lines. No service charge is added to drinks. The price on the menu is the price on your account, and the package price is the whole price. Many lines add between 18% and 20% to every drink bought at the bar, and most American-owned lines add somewhere between 18% and 20%, so a rival package advertised at less than P&O’s can easily cost more once the percentage lands.
It also means the pay-as-you-go route is less punishing than it sounds. Plenty of passengers drink perfectly well on the free tea, coffee and water and buy the occasional glass on top, with no mental arithmetic at the bar. Our wider guide to cruise drinks packages runs the same comparison across every major line.
Drinks packages are only sold on cruises of five nights or longer. On a short break there is no decision to make: it is pay as you go, whatever your drinking habits.
Classic or Deluxe?
The gap is £10 per person per day, which over a fortnight is £140 a head, or £280 for a couple. That is a real sum, so it is worth being honest about what it buys.
It is not a wider range so much as a larger pour of the same range. Spirits go from 25ml to 50ml and wine from 175ml to 250ml, so a Deluxe measure is double the spirit and roughly a third more wine. If gin and tonic or wine with dinner is the backbone of your day, you are getting materially more for your £10.
If you mostly drink beer or cider, Classic covers you perfectly well and the extra tenner buys very little, since beers and ciders are in both. The extended cocktail range, craft beers and perfect serves are the rest of what Deluxe adds, and only you know whether you will order them.
Classic and Deluxe each carry 20% off products excluded from the package, so that is not a reason to go up a tier. If you like a good bottle with dinner rather than a glass, you get the same discount either way.
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Drinks Package or All-Inclusive?
In December 2025 P&O began selling all-inclusive packages for the first time, on cruises of five nights or more departing from March 2026. They bundle a drinks package with Wi-Fi and a speciality dining credit, and for a lot of passengers they are now the more relevant comparison.
There are two, and they are built on the drinks packages already described. The Classic all-inclusive pairs the Classic drinks package with essential Wi-Fi, which is the tier meant for messaging and social media. The Deluxe all-inclusive pairs the Deluxe drinks package with ultimate Wi-Fi, which is the one that will carry streaming and video calls. Everything covered earlier about pour sizes, the fifteen-drink limit and the fifteen-minute rule applies exactly as before, because it is the same drinks package inside the bundle.
The pricing needs reading carefully, because the figure P&O leads with is the best case. The headline is £45 per person per day, but that applies to holidays of fifteen nights or more. On a more typical cruise of five to fourteen nights it is £49 for Classic and £59 for Deluxe. The dining credit moves with length too: on Classic it is £20 for five to nine nights, £40 for ten to fourteen, and £55 for fifteen or more, while Deluxe runs £30, £60 and £80. The credit is for the speciality restaurants, such as Sindhu and Epicurean, and can be used across all seven ships in the fleet.
P&O puts the saving at up to 32% on Classic and 34% on Deluxe against buying the same things separately on board, which it works out as roughly £23 and £30 a day. Those are real numbers, but they compare against the most expensive way of buying, which is picking each element up once you have sailed.
The Classic drinks package is £50 a day, but 10% comes off if you buy it at the time of booking or any time up to three days before you sail, which brings it to £45. The all-inclusive packages are sold at a set price with no equivalent advance discount, so £45 against £49 is the real comparison on a cruise of five to fourteen nights. The one exception is Peninsular Club members, who get 5% off the all-inclusive on member-discounted cruises.
That £4 a day is the whole decision, and it turns on whether you would have bought the Wi-Fi anyway. Over seven nights it is about £28 extra, against which you get the Wi-Fi for the week plus a £20 dining credit. If you were always going to pay for internet at sea, the bundle wins comfortably and you get the dining credit as well. If you genuinely switch off for a week, you are paying for two things you will not touch, and the drinks package on its own is the better buy.
The strongest evidence for the bundle comes from people who had already done it the other way. One couple who bought drinks and Wi-Fi separately, using both a Black Friday offer and their Peninsular Club discount, worked out afterwards that the all-inclusive would still have left them around £50 per person better off, with a £30 dining credit on top. Two discounts stacked on the separate purchases, and the bundle was still ahead.
A worked example makes the gap concrete. Take two adults on a seven-night cruise. The Classic drinks package pre-booked at 10% off is £45 each per day, so £315 each, £630 for the cabin. The Classic all-inclusive is £49 each per day, so £343 each, £686 for the cabin. You are £56 worse off on the bundle, and in exchange you have essential Wi-Fi for both of you all week and £40 of dining credit between you. Put like that it is close to a wash, and the deciding factor is simply whether the Wi-Fi has any value to you. Run the same sum over a fourteen-night cruise and the dining credit doubles to £40 each while the daily gap stays at £4, which is where the bundle starts to look obviously better.
Families should look at this one closely, because the under-18s benefit carries across. Where two adults sharing a cabin both buy the same all-inclusive package, everyone under eighteen in that cabin gets the Refresh package free, exactly as they would with Classic or Deluxe on their own. The arrangement is different for a child travelling with a single adult: P&O charges them at the adult all-inclusive price, but they receive the Refresh package, Wi-Fi and dining credit in return rather than nothing.
There is one group for whom none of this applies. The all-inclusive only comes in Classic and Deluxe, so there is no bundled version of Refresh or Alcohol-free. If the £16 soft drinks package or the £29 alcohol-free one is the sensible choice for you, the drinks package is your only route and the comparison never arises.
The rules mirror the drinks packages more or less exactly. Every adult sharing the cabin has to take the same package, everyone buying must be eighteen or over, and it is only sold on cruises of five nights or more. It is designed to be added when you book the cruise; adding it afterwards means a webform or a call to the contact centre rather than the usual online route. Peninsular Club members get 5% off, though only on member-discounted cruises and only when the bundle is chosen at the time of booking. If you already hold a drinks or Wi-Fi package bought at an offer price, that discount does not carry across when you switch.
The short version: if you want the Wi-Fi, take the all-inclusive. If you only want the drinks, buy the drinks package and pre-book it for the 10%. And on anything of a fortnight or more the all-inclusive pulls ahead regardless, because its daily price drops with length while the drinks package stays flat.
The Rules Worth Knowing
Three of P&O’s own conditions decide this for more people than the arithmetic does, and the first one settles it outright for a lot of couples.
- Everyone in the cabin has to match. P&O is explicit: where two or more guests aged over 18 share a cabin, all of them must buy the same package. A couple where only one person really drinks cannot buy a single package between them, and that alone rules it out for a great many people. Check this before anything else.
- Fifteen drinks a day, one at a time. Each package allows up to 15 alcoholic drinks per person per day; beyond that you pay full price, though the 20% discount still applies. Non-alcoholic drinks in the package are unlimited. The other rule to know is this: only one drink per package at a time, at minimum fifteen-minute intervals, so you cannot get a round in for the table.
- Children are handled separately, and well. Classic and Deluxe include a complimentary Refresh package for children aged 17 and under, a genuine saving for families. Children can also take Refresh on its own, independently of what their parents buy, and that can be arranged on board.
- Buy before you sail, or within two days. Packages can be bought at booking, through My P&O Cruises up to three days before departure with 10% off, or on board during the first two days only and at full price. Miss that window and the decision is made for you. Packages also cannot be shared or transferred between guests.
When a Package Pays
Start from the right number. Because tea, coffee and tap water are free anyway, the package only has to cover the drinks you would otherwise have paid for, and Classic from £50 a day is the figure to beat.
There is no single break-even figure, and anyone who gives you one is guessing, because it depends entirely on what you drink. Against the Classic package at £45 a day, P&O’s own bar menu puts cocktails at £8.50, so you would need about five or six a day. Pints start at £5.95, which is nearer eight. A 175ml glass of wine at £6.50 to £7.95 lands around six, and a single spirit and mixer at £4.80 needs nine or ten. Drink cocktails and the package pays quickly. Drink beer and it is a much closer call.
The part most people leave out of the sum is everything that is not alcohol. Soft drinks are £2.35 to £2.95, and the bottled water you take ashore, the Costa coffee that is not the free buffet coffee, and the mocktails at £4.50 all count towards the package too. Two coffees, a couple of waters for a day ashore and a soft drink with lunch is close to £12 before anyone has had a proper drink. Count honestly and count everything: the coffee after breakfast, a glass of wine at lunch, something on the balcony before dinner, wine with the meal, a nightcap. That is five without trying, and on a sea day it climbs.
The itinerary matters as much as the drinking. Six or more hours ashore each day cuts your drinking time sharply, and a Mediterranean cruise with a port every morning is a poor case for a package. A transatlantic or a Norwegian fjords sailing with several full sea days is a much better one.
Because all adults must take the same package, the question is never whether it pays for you. It is whether it pays for both of you combined. A heavy drinker paired with a light one usually loses on a package even when it would have been good value for one of them alone.
Sailing Without One
Most P&O passengers do not buy a package, and the ships are entirely comfortable that way.
Tea, coffee and water are free on board, jugs of water appear on the dining tables, and the daily programme is full of things that cost nothing at all. Paying as you go also frees you from the fifteen-minute rule and the cabin-matching rule entirely, which for a couple with different drinking habits is often the deciding factor.
The onboard app shows a running total, which is the honest way to find out what you actually spend. Plenty of people discover that a fortnight of moderate drinking comes to less than a week of the package would have, and the ones who do not now know to buy it next time.
Frequently Asked Questions
P&O publishes “from” prices for cruises of five nights or more: Refresh from £16 per person per day, Alcohol-free from £29, Classic from £50 and Deluxe from £60. Buying through My P&O Cruises after booking and up to three days before departure takes 10% off. Packages are not sold on cruises shorter than five nights.
Deluxe pours larger: 50ml spirits instead of 25ml and 250ml wines instead of 175ml, plus an extended cocktail range, craft beers and perfect serves. Everything else is shared, including the 20% discount on excluded drinks and the free children’s Refresh package, so the £10 gap is essentially buying you a bigger measure.
No. P&O does not add a service charge or gratuity to drinks, so the menu price is what appears on your onboard account and the package price is the whole cost. This matters when comparing lines, because many add 18% to 20% to every beverage bought in their bars and restaurants. A cheaper-looking package elsewhere may not be cheaper once the percentage is applied.
Water, teas and coffees are free on board whether you have a package or not. What a package buys is the branded and packaged version: canned, still or sparkling water and speciality coffees and teas such as Costa or Teapigs. Note that Refresh does not include Costa or Pukka tea, only soft drinks on tap; the Alcohol-free package is the one that adds them.
Yes, for the alcoholic packages. If one adult in the cabin buys Classic or Deluxe, every adult sharing that cabin must buy the same one. For couples where only one person drinks much, this is usually the deciding factor and it should be the first thing you check.
Yes. Each package allows up to 15 alcoholic drinks per person per day, after which drinks are charged at full price with a 20% discount applied. Non-alcoholic drinks in the package are unlimited. Separately, only one drink per package may be ordered at a time, at minimum fifteen-minute intervals, so you cannot buy a round for other people.
Count only what you would actually have paid for, since tea, coffee and tap water are free anyway. Against Classic from £50 a day that usually means somewhere around six or seven bought drinks before it starts paying, and more on a port-heavy itinerary where you are ashore for much of the day.
Yes, but only during the first two days of the cruise and at full price, since the 10% discount applies to advance purchases through My P&O Cruises only. Packages cannot be shared or transferred between guests.
It depends on whether you want the Wi-Fi. The Classic drinks package is £50 per person per day and drops to £45 with the 10% discount, which applies if you buy at the time of booking or up to three days before you sail. The all-inclusive prices are set and carry no equivalent advance discount. The Classic all-inclusive is £49 per day on cruises of five to fourteen nights, so it costs around £4 a day more than the discounted drinks package, and in return you get Wi-Fi and a speciality dining credit. If you would have bought Wi-Fi anyway the bundle is better value. If you would not, the drinks package on its own is cheaper. On cruises of fifteen nights or more the all-inclusive falls to £45 per day while the drinks package stays at £50, so it wins outright.
A drinks package, Wi-Fi and a speciality dining credit. The Classic version combines the Classic drinks package with essential Wi-Fi, and the Deluxe version combines the Deluxe drinks package with ultimate Wi-Fi, which is the tier that supports streaming and video calls. The dining credit varies with the length of the cruise: on Classic it is £20 for five to nine nights, £40 for ten to fourteen and £55 for fifteen or more, while Deluxe runs £30, £60 and £80. The credit is for selected speciality restaurants, such as Sindhu and Epicurean, and can be used across all seven ships in the fleet.
Yes, but not through the usual online route. The packages are designed to be added when you book the cruise, and to add one afterwards you either complete the webform on P&O’s all-inclusive page or call the contact centre. If you booked through a travel agent you need to go back to them. Every adult sharing the cabin has to take the same package, everyone buying must be eighteen or over, and it is only sold on cruises of five nights or more. Peninsular Club members get 5% off, though only on member-discounted cruises and only when the package is selected at the time of booking.
Both adults have to take the same package, so work out whether it pays for the pair of you. Our full guide to cruise drinks packages compares every major line if you are still choosing.
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